Tag Archives: Charles Moore

On Sunday we screened ‘Bag It – Is your life too plastic?‘ in the Guildford town hall. The movie outlines the overwhelming amount of plastic that we are consuming every day, particularly ‘single use disposable plastic’. Why would you make something that is used for a few minutes (a drink container) out of something that will take hundreds of years to break down!?

Bag It also highlighted the impact plastic has on the marine environment and human health. See this recent Catalyst episode for how that’s impacting on Australian wildlife and beaches.

We invited people to try going a day or a week without buying any plastic. Why not try it and see what you find? Let us know how you go.

Here’s some tips to reduce your plastic use:

Don’t use plastic bags – use reusable carry and fruit bags

Get a metal water bottle and avoid plastic drink containers

Bring your own coffee cup

Go to the farmers market and buy your fruit and veg plastic free

Murray from the City of Swan Waste Management team outlined some of the councils initiatives, including the upcoming Recyclable goods day (Sat 10th November), where residents can drop off e-waste and other items, and pick up free mulch! See Upcoming events for details.

Elizabeth, Debra and Kim also accompanied the movie with sewing demonstrations and hands on training on how to sew your own bag from left-over materials. Check out the photos below.

Could you live without plastic for a month? That’s the challenge from the Western Earth Carers.

Plastic is ubiquitous in our lives, but if you saw our screening of Bag It last year, or have heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, you’d be well aware, it’s not all plastic fantastic! Not to mention the needless waste of resources and contribution to land fill.

What can you do about it? Of course we should recycle, but it’s much more powerful not to buy the stuff in the first place. So here’s a great opportunity to give plastic the boot:

The Challenge

Attempt to buy no single use disposable plastic in July for 1 day, 1 shopping trip, 1 week or 1 month

The Rules

Between 1 – 31 July, attempt to buy no plastic packaging. (Remember it’s not going to be easy, but its a challenge, not a competition so don’t worry about being perfect.)

Collect any plastic packaging you do buy. Keep it in a ‘dilemma bag’ and share a photograph at the end of the challenge.